Mickles: Dark clouds hanging over Saints

• By SHELDON MICKLES
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Dec 2, 2008 - Page: 1C - UPDATED: 1 a.m.

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TAMPA, Fla. — On a gloomy, rainy Sunday afternoon, the New Orleans Saints all but saw their flickering playoff hopes get extinguished by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

OK, they may not be extinguished yet. But they’re awfully damp today.

The Saints should have seen it coming, especially when the dark clouds started rolling in from the nearby Gulf of Mexico shortly after kickoff. The usually sun-splashed Raymond James Stadium took on an eerie feel as wind gusts kicked up, the sky grew darker and darker, and the rain started coming down.

Actually, it was kind of appropriate because it’s been such a stormy 2008 season for the Saints.

From the very start of the season, the Saints have been hounded by injuries, losses when they had a chance to put teams away, poor defensive play, kicking woes, and yes, the infamous StarCaps saga.

So the dark clouds that hung over them Sunday were nothing new.

There was a ray of hope, however, when the defense finished off one of its better games this season by putting together three straight three-and-outs and holding the Bucs to just one first down on its next possession.

That defensive display left the game in the usually capable hands of quarterback Drew Brees and the NFL’s most productive offensive unit through the first 11 games of the season.

Everyone in the stadium, except maybe the Bucs’ third-ranked defense, knew what was coming with only 3:50 to play and the Saints needing just a field goal to solidify their late-season surge to playoff contention.

“We expected to win,” said defensive end Will Smith. “We have such an explosive defense and Drew is an incredible player. With Drew, it’s never out of reach.

“With that said, it didn’t happen,” he said. “We had some opportunities, but we didn’t take advantage of them.”

Indeed, they had a couple of opportunities to pull it out and celebrate on the soggy turf. But Brees threw one interception, then another in a span of three plays as things suddenly turned as ugly as the weather.

The Bucs were certainly more opportunistic when it counted the most, turning the first pick into the go-ahead field goal before the second one shut down the Saints for the day — and likely for the season.